It was a fight Al Iaquinta wasn’t supposed to be in – literally, at the start of the week, and figuratively by the time the bell rang. But there he was, in the fifth round against Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title fight. Nurmagomedov (26-0 MMA, 10-0 UFC) pitched a shutout with relative ease against Iaquinta (13-4-1 MMA, 8-3 UFC) to become the UFC’s new lightweight champion. But the fact Iaquinta took him 25 minutes as a heavy underdog in a title fight he took on a day’s notice no doubt put his stock on the rise. Nurmagomedov won with a pair of 50-43 scores and a 50-44, meaning he took a pair of 10-8 rounds from two judges. The side drama about the fight was that in taking the lightweight belt, Nurmagomedov ended the title reign of Conor McGregor, who won the championship in November 2016, but never defended it.
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